Cygnet Health Care

Cygnet Health Care is an independent[1] provider of mental health services which operates over 150 centres with more than 2,500 beds across the UK. The company headquarters is in London. It is a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, which acquired it for £205 million in 2014.[2] It has 15 rehabilitation sites nationwide, comprising 25 wards and 338 beds.[3]

Cygnet Health Care
IndustryMental health care
HeadquartersSevenoaks, Kent, United Kingdom
Number of locations
150 centres
15 rehabilitation sites
SubsidiariesAdult services business of Cambian Group PLC
Websitewww.cygnethealth.co.uk

Some of the company's clients pay privately, but most are funded by the NHS buying extra capacity. In 2013/4 Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust spent £1.2 million with the company.[4]

In December 2016 it bought the adult services business of Cambian Group PLC in a deal worth £377 million.[5] The deal was referred for investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority in May 2017,[6] which ordered the merged company to sell one of its hospitals in the East Midlands, to counter the loss of competition.[7]

Performance

CQC concerns

In 2011 the company was warned by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about staffing levels at Cygnet Wing Blackheath.[8] Improvements were still required at the CQC inspection in April 2014.[9]

In 2013 the CQC issued a warning in respect of Cygnet Hospital Bierley because the service was failing to ensure that appropriate records were kept.[10]

Cygnet was the subject of a BBC investigation that found that staff had been taunting, provoking and scaring vulnerable people.[11]

Cygnet Acer Clinic in Chesterfield was placed in special measures in September 2019 and admissions to Cygnet Acer Clinic were suspended. At that point Newbus Grange hospital in Darlington (see below), Cygnet Hospital Ealing, Cygnet Hospital Wyke in Bradford, Cygnet Hospital Coventry and Cygnet Hospital Colchester were also in special measures.[12]

After its eighth site, Cygnet Acer Clinic in Derbyshire, was rated "inadequate" in just over a year the company accused the CQC of publishing an "inaccurate picture". The CQC found three-quarters of nursing staff at the Clinic, which provides treatment for 28 female patients with personality disorders and who self-harm, were unqualified, and suspended admissions.[13]

After an assessment of its leadership CQC inspectors said they could not find a “clear line of accountability” across the provider’s 140 locations. They said most of the company's services were rated as “good” and some as “outstanding”. They found that checks to make sure the directors and board members were ‘fit and proper’ “had not been carried out” and there was no evidence of references having been taken up during recruitment or that insolvency and bankruptcy searches were done. Cygnet commissioned a corporate governance review by an independent person and took action to make improvements. In response to the CQC review, Cygnet said in a letter published by the BMJ that, following checks verified by lawyers, it was satisfied it was fully compliant and there were no issues around directors’ capability, experience, or qualifications.[14]

Adolescent care

In 2017 the CQC raised concerns about the safety and quality of the firm's hospitals in Sheffield and Woking.[15] It ordered admissions to be suspended at Knole Ward at the Cygnet Hospital at Godden Green, near Sevenoaks, which operates a tier 4 child and adolescent mental health service because of concerns about the use of seclusion and segregation.[16] The company announced in November 2017 that it would no longer provide children and adolescents’ mental health services in its regional psychiatric intensive care unit at Cygnet Hospital Woking.[17] In December 2017, Cygnet Health Care was accused of failing vulnerable young patients[18] Three warning notices and fixed penalty notices for failing to make "required notifications" of patient safety incidents were issued by the CQC after an "urgent" inspection in November 2017. The Cygnet Hospital Godden Green was restricted to eight admissions. It was said that staff were "often reliant on police intervention" to manage incidents in the hospital, and were not always competent and skilled.[19] It was rated good after an inspection in February 2018.[20] Plans to open 12 CAMHS eating disorder beds at Godden Green in 2019 were paused after three incidents at the hospital. The CQC issued two warning notices around safe care and treatment, and good governance.[21] In July 2019 the CQC imposed two requirement notices – relating to safe medicines management and having a permanent registered manager - in place on the Godden Green hospital but lifted the restriction on the number of admissions.[22] In October 2020 the child and adolescent mental health unit at Godden Green was closed down by the Care Quality Commission.[23]

Services for people with learning difficulties and/or autism

Cygnet Woodrow House, a care home for people with learning disabilities and autism, was rated outstanding by the CQC in March 2020. Inspectors said there was ‘an excellent understanding of seeing each person as an individual, with their own social and cultural diversity, values and beliefs’. Cygnet Sherwood House, a learning disability hospital, and Sherwood Lodge, a specialist rehabilitation mental health hospital, were rated outstanding by the CQC in May 2019, with inspectors noting that staff followed best practice and people using the service were treated with compassion and kindness.

In September 2020, Peter Gibson, MP for Darlington, visited Cygnet St Williams, a neuropsychiatric hospital, after it was awarded a Good rating on its first CQC inspection.[24]

Newbus Grange

A patient was found with "unexplained injuries", patients had chances to kill themselves and staff were asleep on duty, men with autism, learning disabilities and complex needs were restrained by staff through "inappropriate techniques" at Cygnet Newbus Grange hospital, in Darlington. That was the sixth time in 2019 that the CQC found a mental health unit that Cygnet runs inadequate. Sean McNulty, who worked at Newbus Grange, was imprisoned for abuse and ill-treatment of residents. Judge Peter Armstrong described McNulty as a, "sadistic bully", McNulty was found in CCTV footage punching, kicking or slapping one patient 15 times. This was one of four inpatient units which were previously operated by the Danshell Group and acquired by the company in 2018. All four were condemned by the CQC.

Yew Trees hospital

In July 2020 the company reported staff at Yew Trees hospital in Kirby-le-Soken, which had eight women with learning disabilities, to the Care Quality Commission. They closed the hospital and reported the mistreatment to Essex Police. This included people who they believed witnessed the alleged incidents and failed to report them.[25]

See also

References
  1. Cygnet Health Care (PDF) https://www.cygnethealth.co.uk/content/uploads/2020/07/CYG-183-Quality-Account-2018-2019.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "UHS bolts Alpha Hospitals onto Cygnet". Health Investor. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  3. "Watchdog flags concerns about private health firms' merger". Health Service Journal. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  4. "Mental health bed shortage". Lancashire Evening Post. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  5. "Cambian Agrees £377M Disposal". Insider media. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  6. "Cambian Adult Services Unit Sale To Face In-Depth UK Competition Probe". London South East. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  7. "Competition regulator orders hospital sale". Health Service Journal. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  8. "CQC warns Cygnet Health Care Limited that it is failing to protect the safety and welfare of people". Care Quality Commission. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  9. "Cygnet Wing Blackheath". Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  10. "CQC warns Cygnet Health Care Limited that they must make improvements". Care Quality Commission. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  11. "Secret filming reveals abuse of disabled and autistic patients. Earlier this month Sean McNulty, a member of staff at Newbus Grange, was jailed for abusing and ill-treating residents. Sentencing him to two years and eight months in prison Judge Peter Armstrong said he was a "sadistic bully". CCTV footage had shown McNulty punching, kicking or slapping one patient 15 times". 23 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  12. "Sixth Cygnet-run facility placed in 'special measures' by CQC". Nursing Times. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  13. "Private provider sees eighth site rated 'inadequate'". Health Service Journal. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  14. "Cygnet committed to working openly and transparently to deliver safe, effective and quality care". 2020-11-15. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. "Second private hospital stops taking new patients after CQC concerns". Health Service Journal. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  16. "Third Cygnet hospital criticised by CQC". Health Service Journal. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  17. "Private provider shuts children's unit after regulators intervene". Health Service Journal. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  18. Smith, Patrick (December 16, 2017). "A Chain Of Private Psychiatric Hospitals Has Been Accused Of Failing Vulnerable Young Patients". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  19. "Private provider suspected of criminal offence by CQC". Health Service Journal. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  20. "Cygnet mental health hospital makes 'significant improvements'". Health Service Journal. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  21. "Specialist beds delayed after child welfare concerns". Health Service Journal. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  22. "Private mental health hospital told to improve safety". Health Service Journal. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  23. "Private children's unit shut down after CQC safety concerns". Health Service Journal. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  24. "Peter Gibson, MP for Darlington, visits Cygnet St William's". Cygnet Health Care. 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  25. "Staff at private hospital caught on CCTV kicking and slapping vulnerable patients". Independent. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
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